Why I love the Marriott…

Because they love me. They keep track of my “loyalty” and know how to keep it.

Last week-end I used my Marriott points to stay at the swanky downtown Portland location on my birthday. Had a nice quiet birthday party at my brother’s house and upon returning to my room….discovered a lovely birthday dessert complete with card signed by some of the staff.

Wow.

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That is so simple… Simply brilliant. This is the best marketing ROI I bet they ever got.

This would be so easy for CUs to implement. I wonder if any CUs do anything like this? I wonder if they decide not to like the elementary schools around here who will not allow birthday parties in fear of alienating specific religious groups.

Why does Marriot do it, but others shun it. Does it pay greater dividends to cater to the masses and risk the relationships of the few.

Wow, that was a tangent thought – but I have heard great ideas get squashed just like this as they play out in management meetings.

I think most great ideas (like this one) get squashed because they are hard.

I asked a CU mangement team yesterday to think of everything they are working on. The things that occupy their day. How much is “time consuming” and how much is “hard?” We tend to confuse action with progress.

As a previous CU’er and someone who drank the Denise Kool-aid a long time ago, I feel I need to post my personal antithesis of her story entitled “Why I hate the Sheraton…” I’ll try to shorten it as much as possible. (The full version is far more horrible.)

Traveling in Detroit on a very cold late January evening, I arrived at the Downtown Sheraton (chosen due to convenient proximity to my destination). Upon check-in I’m informed ‘the heat has been out in the rooms for a few hours, but it’s fixed.’ Sure enough. My room was 53 degrees, so I decide to waste a few hours down at a local pub . Three hours later (it was a fun pub!), I returned to find the room at 58 degrees. Being a 4 seasons camper and someone who had just consumed a few drinks, I figured I’d rough it for a bit as the temp slowly went up. Imagine my disappointment as 3 hours later the room had GONE DOWN in temp.

I bundled up and headed downstairs to find answers. After ringing the bell for 10 minutes, the night clerk finally arrived and proclaimed the problem had been hotel wide but it was fixed now. Imagine my pleasure when I was told ‘there’s nothing we can do for you. Your room will be warmer soon.’

Needless to say, the room never did get warmer than 55 and I never really did sleep. As I checked out in the AM the new clerk went through the motion of asking ‘how was my stay.’ Too tired to go into detail, I simply stated ‘terrible.’ The following response is the best ‘I’m not really listening’ service response I’ve ever received. She says…”OK then. Here’s your receipt and you’re all set.” Are you kidding me!

I since have received a refund for the room by complaining to Starwood, the corporation behind Sheraton, but nothing more. In my letter to the President of Starwood (which I really wrote for my own satisfaction) the following were the lessons I suggested he take away from this…

1. Teach your staff to OWN the problem, not LIE.
2. Sympathy and a simple gesture at the time MIGHT have made me slightly less ticked off. A robe and a cup of hot chocolate delivered to my room with a simple “Sorry about the inconvenience, we’re doing everything we can.” was one easy fun suggestion. A space heater would have been better.
3. Starwood has a lot of other hotels in the Detroit area. Would it be too much to ask to shuttle me to another partner hotel or were they ALL booked solid…AND WHY in the world did I have to pay for my room in the first place? My car in the parking garage would have been warmer and less expensive.

Sheraton was never quite on the top of my list of places to stay. It sure is close to the bottom now. Maybe I’ll start looking into this Marriot place I keep hearing about.

So nice to hear from you and I love this story. Sadly I’m sure the folks at Sheraton still stand by their “There’s nothing we could do about it.”

I was at a conference at Disney years ago where a group of Credit Union folks got STUCK on a ride for hours! By the time they got them down, the park was closed – but not for them. They had food, t-shirts, trinkets and a literal party waiting for those stranded.

The next day at the conference, EVERYONE was wishing they’d been lucky enough to get stuck on the ride!